doesn't work on ati, but the loading bar is sweet, i guess. (mobility radeon x1600, mobility firegl v5200) possibly driver issues, lifeforce hasn't run on either for months, perhaps incomplete implementation of framebuffer multisample.

Apart from this kinda more amusing than perturbing Detail (and the usual criticism that Navis could use a few more polygons in his 3D work) tho: Very likeable. Love the visual style and the textures/shaders just look ace at high resolutions. And I really like the mood it sets, visually as well as musically.

one can never get enough of navis' versatility when it comes to introducing new visual ideas. there's more than plenty of wonderful details and clever bits in this production. although it doesn't really work for me as a whole, self-contained piece of work, it easily combines enough creative originality for me to thrive on. i might not really get navis' storyline here (there isn't any cornier SF than an anthead getting screwed on robot feet) and i still think that a more consequent approach visually (sticking to the microscope visualisation, for example) would make a better demo, but heck, this blend of beauty sure made my day :) .

micksam7: fortunately, there is no such thing as a "typical ASD demo" no more

Holy crap ;-) For the ideas, the execution.. Thumb! Funny thing that a bit remined me of the Tron 2.0 trailer I saw yesterday..
When you are in military service I will miss your productions for sure.. Never stop!

Watched the capture on Capped.tv as I'm one of those owning an ATI :)
And well, I was quite impressed. I'm a sucker for good machine-themed demos and in this regard I was not disappointed :). (The beginning was indeed the best part of the demo, but IMHO the rest was top-notch as well.)
In any case, possibly my favourite demo of the year so far, and certainly my new personal favourite from ASD.

Well, the concept (for those who look for one) is pretty simple in this case. It's a dead flea under an electronic microscope, and a trip through a nanobot construction facility showing how one of those is built, then when the trip is over, a few thousand of those nanobots get inside the flea and revive it (reconstruct a few stuff here, replace some stuff there then jumpstart the heart).

As for the music, it was a bit rushed as I started it really late (fuckings to busy schedules). And the comment about knight rider made me laugh. Really, all the time while I was writting this it never occured to me how similar it is to that theme.. I guess some melodies get engraved into our subconscious for ever!

Finally, navis is back home and he's looking into the ATI related problem.

As for the music, it was a bit rushed as I started it really late (fuckings to busy schedules). And the comment about knight rider made me laugh. Really, all the time while I was writting this it never occured to me how similar it is to that theme.. I guess some melodies get engraved into our subconscious for ever!

Right. We know you broke into Knight Rider's composer house and stole his pro-tools.

This is... awesome. It's exactly as a demo should be. Wonderful concept, strange realization, technically flawless execution and the magical otherworldliness that only few demos have. Plus I hate insects and you made my skin crawl ;)

First of all mega thanks to kb_ and co. who captured our demo into video. Thanks man !

Second: if anyone wants to help me fix this ATI bug, all you need to do is send me an email at:

pataridis@yahoo.com

mentioning whether the demos metamorphosis (ATI fix) and any other ASD demos EXCLUDING lifeforce (for example animal attraction) work. I thought that the problem was with the texture compression, but didn't have enough time last night to investigate further. Thanks for your help.

About the demo:

This is a very honest demo basically, one that doesn't want to be taken too seriously. It is entertainment for the eyes and ears for only 5.30 mins and in the asd demos universe it is the sister demo of animal attraction, in the sense that it is 3D but not assembly-epic.

I really have to say I found the theme (assembly line with biomechanical robots) to be so corny. It's been done countless times! Maybe it fits euskal, and in any case, the rendering is super nifty. I really like the shiny scanning lights.

I'm puzzled that everyone compares the (awesome) soundtrack to the Knight Rider theme. That never occured to me. When I listened to the track I was immediately reminded of old "ufo b-movies" from the 50s/60s due to the "duuuu-ieeee" sound effect in the refrain... Ufos are attacking the earth!!! Be up in arms!!!

The visuals area really nice - you really feel as if you're "under the microscope". I didn't get the "Knight Rider" reference (but then again, I never saw the show), but the music did very little for me - a bit dull, and I thought the mixing was strange (like, some of the leads were way to high, and such things), but it's not really any worse than many demos, just.. not what I'm used to from amusic. :)

Some nice shaders and modelling and such but overall I found it completely dull. Also, I wouldn't mention it if it wasn't for Navis talking about demo names in his seminar, but that's one of the worst names I've ever seen :P

Ok after watching the demo the concept that aMUSIC described left me kind of confused. I got the dead flea part but the whole nanobot construction facility went way over my head (but I guess I didn't think of the possibility that the facility itself would be microscopic). Oh well, at least I enjoyed some of the visuals.

teel: Yeah, it doesn't have any decent code either, it simply is just a bad, bad demo. Really deserved to get a "sucks" from you I think, like random russian .werkzeug prods. Because, really, "sucks" is just the word that applies to this prod. It sure as hell isn't "ok" - it "sucks" for real!

I sure am glad we have such insightful reviewers as you here teel - thanks for sharing your thoughts and feelings on demos, because as we all know, you're behind a mountain of masterpieces yourself and therefore you are, dare I say, _overqualified_ to even grace us with your presence!

This (as do other images of microscopic insects) cause a strange itching sensation on my skin. Must be my over-reacting mind. Thus, I find the experience almost unbearably uncomfortable, and thus I am quite unable to like this at all, so piggy it is.

Some very nice visuals, I especially liked the dead bug model, and the scene with the very bright projective grid texture onto the otherwise dark environment.
I disliked the occasional interference effect, I think it was anoying, disrupted my attention considerably.
The music had its moments but all in all I think it was rather dull and repetitive (as was some of the scenes of the demo, so you might say it fits :)
All in all, definitely not my favourite ASD demo, yet decent in all ways, and enjoyable.

Oh wow. Gloom having that time of the month or something? Sorry if my personal opinion offended you that much. I missed the part that Pouet needs a "Gloom certificate of quality" for your works to post nowadays.

Anyways, although this demo has it's moments and undeniably has some technical quality, it really doesn't carry out all the way. After the beginning it doesn't seem to really go anywhere, it's just one nice looking scene after another and it failed to keep me interested. Also I feel that the music was much too clean for the somewhat glitchy visuals and otherwise not the quality I've heard from Amusic before. So in the end, despite some of the nice things, this feels just empty. But, hey, that's just my fucking subjective opinion. Anyone is free to ignore it. It's a free world after all.

Some masterly use of shaders. Wonderful to see a group doing varied stuff too. What praeter said about too white. The glow goes completely nuts on my x1950. So much so , half the screen is just whited out.

@Navis were the motion paths hand coded or have you gone to tools now?

Read some comments - couldn't be bothered to read them all.
Doesn't matter, anyway, as I, once again, am totally blown away by the sick mind of Navis.
Where the hell to do you come up with these ideas? All the motion going on here, it's just mindblowing. I bow in the dust before you, feeling damn proud that I've just witnessed another masterpiece of the demo scene.
Ok, ok - reality check. It's not without flaws - the history is a bit.... well, let's just call it "flawed" (I won't offend anyone that way, I guess)... and it IS just a couple of scenes. Not much variation, some would say. But I say: helluva lot o' variation within the single scenes them selves - I mean, it's not like Debris, which was more or less the same during the entire show, just with different camera angles - no, this one shows different things happening in different places in the same scene and, so far, I haven't gone tired from watching it.
Phew, huge comment, this one....
The colour scheme is amazingly beautiful - very carefully picked colours, I think.
The music is perhaps not the best aMusic ever did, but fits this kind of production kind of well, I think. A bit of Jarre in the beginning there - and also here and there in the main parts.
Overall, very good production and very cool to support a "small" party with such a HQ production, instead of "just" going for the big bucks at ASM.
Mad props! (yes, it's an 80s expression - so what? So are the words "demo scene"!) ;)

i so wanted to like this one, but after the great intro with the bug, they showed me a very bland world of the usual pipes and machinery, some fancy bloom & glow whatever-shaders accompanied with the most boring demotune of this year. Maybe i didnt 'get' it, maybe im spoiled by the rest of ASD's great demo's. i wont thump it down, coz i do respect the amount of work that has gone into this, but it just wasnt for me i guess. bring back the nuclear explosions and cheesy guitars plz. ;)

> Overall, very good production and very cool to support a "small" party with such a HQ production, instead of "just" going for the big bucks at ASM.

Just to say that the prizes at Euskal are not inconsiderable too (although massively reduced from last year). It is a great place to be, and with some nice prizes I think it should attract more international audience next time.

The intro showed great promise, then the concept got lost (at least for me) among the usual glowing flyby stuff, making the whole demo simply monotonous and boring. I found the music to be totally out of place as well.

My thumb still goes up though, for the very pleasant visuals. I also enjoyed the coherence in design I miss in the random "epic" fireworks -line of ASD releases. Looking forward to seeing what you'll come up with next :)

Righty, after watching it properly: I'm not so keen on the music. The ant-head looked somehow out of place, something more on the flea scale would have worked better perhaps (but I guess finding one might be hard!). I didn't like the 'show the same thing twice from different angles' thing - it feels like one of those cheap 80s action films where they can't afford many stunts, so they show the ones they have 3 times :D

Apart from those things, great stuff. I really like the distortion effect - it's pure hollywood "unrealistic but looks good" stuff, but that works well here. Well designed scenes too on the whole.

Visually amazing once again. But this is the first time I can't relate much to the music. And I keep imagining what the atmosphere would have been if this had some psycho, eerie, spooky music. But that might have built up too much expectation for the rest of the demo, and might not have gone down well with the fast-paced second half of the demo. In any case, truly inspiring once again to see what you guys come up with here.

i really like the look of this demo. it has enough elements to keep me interested, esp. the flea scene is great. but - as usual in asd demos - i don't think that the music supports the visuals. i mean, it's far from being a bad soundtrack but it sounds so damn "demoish" and dowdy.

The visuals are great and the video effects introduce a certain level of believability however the big issue I have with this production is the music. Without saying it's downright atrocious (fuck, I said it) it's tiny, plaintive sounds undermine the confidence that should fit such visuals. An electro track would work a ton better, and I'm really tempted to try out replacing the mp3 with another one.

Really notable direction.
Great sincronization.
Cool composite effects.
The music perfectly fits.
Intense feeling overall.
I finnish the watch with the idea that something weird and misterious is hidden inside atoms, machines, and everyday life.